"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

henry and blue dog

Just before we left New Orleans, I asked Henry if I could take a portrait of him with his little friend Blue Dog. I had given him a retro Fischer Price toy camera when we arrived, and together we'd been taking lots of pictures. (He holds the camera's back toward his face and carefully snugs his cute little mouth inside the lens before pressing the shutter.) He was very intent on the whole process and mostly loved the way the flash bulb made a quick rotation each time he snapped a picture.

So, I asked him to sit on the sofa for the portrait, and here is the way he looked out toward me. Just looking, just being himself, just being honest, already somehow just being sure of himself.

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About Me

I grew up in Kentucky, where it seems I was always taking pictures. I moved to Madison, Wisconsin after high school and got a BA in Communication Arts and a Master's degree in Photography/Graphic Design. Shortly after relocating to Kansas City in 1980 with my husband, Eddie, I opened the Baker Gallery, specializing in the exhibition and sale of 20th century fine art photography, and I had two children, Abbie and Max. At that point I made a conscious decision to move my own image-making to the back burner. Fourteen years later, on my fortieth birthday, I decided to start making photographs again and dusted off my Hasselblad to do just that. Now sixty, I have completed several bodies of photographic work which have been exhibited and published on a national level. Shortly after my return from a 2006 trip to east Africa, I established a non-profit to assist Ugandan children who are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS and civil war. I started this blog to keep friends and family informed of my experiences on that first trip to Uganda. Seven trips later, the blog has taken many twists and turns, but it continues to serve as a way for me to talk about my life and my work. Welcome!